National Tantrum

(Say, can you see By the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed) I learned the pledge before I knew what pledge meant Recited it with my hand over a heart That didn't know yet what it was promising Or to whom And I still think the promise is right I think the idea of this place Is one of the most ambitious things A group of people ever tried to build And I think we been failing it With remarkable consistency From almost the beginning Which means the failure is not new And the promise is still worth keeping I'm not talking left, I'm not talking right I'm talking about the 3AM When a country looks at itself in the mirror And has to decide if it still means it Whose broad stripes and bright stars (Through the perilous fight) O'er the ramparts we watched (Were so gallantly, yeah, streaming?) And the rockets' red glare (The bombs bursting in air) Gave proof through the night (That our flag was still there) I seen the left get so busy being right They forgot how to talk to the people they were right about I seen the right hold so much ground They forgot what ground they were supposed to be holding I seen the algorithm learn that anger keeps you watching And decide that was good enough I seen a man work three jobs and still miss rent Vote for whoever promised him dignity Because nobody else was offering it I seen a woman march for something real Get called everything that exists For caring about other people I'm not talking left, I'm not talking right I'm talking about the version of this place In the document nobody's read lately But everybody's fighting about Whose broad stripes and bright stars (Through the perilous fight) O'er the ramparts we watched (Were so gallantly, yeah, streaming?) And the rockets' red glare (The bombs bursting in air) Gave proof through the night (That our flag was still there) My grandfather fought for this country In a war it wasn't sure He was a full citizen of yet He came home and built something anyway Not because the country deserved it But because the idea Was worth more than the current failure of the idea I inherited that The grief and the pride simultaneously Both things, same chest, same baseball game Hand over heart Meaning every word Knowing every word still has work to do Whose broad stripes and bright stars (Through the perilous fight) O'er the ramparts we watched (Were so gallantly, yeah, streaming?) And the rockets' red glare (The bombs bursting in air) Gave proof through the night (That our flag was still there) The country is not Washington The country is not the news The country is the diner On the Tuesday With the coffee And the two tired people Who haven't talked yet Just talk…..but more importantly… Listen… (O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave)